Little Steps
by Hxlden caulfield
Summary: Figuring her out is going to be a challenge, but it's a challenge he eventually is willing to to take. And who said trying to get the love of your life to fall for you would be easy?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: HEYYYY I haven't written in almost 3-4 years… and I've wanted to write something for Hey Arnold! since I was in the 6th grade… Well now I'm a college sophomore and I still love Hey Arnold! Hahaha wow. Well anyway, I had this happen in a dream! It was a sign I thought, and here I am typing it up. It's my first time writing a fanfic in almost 4 years pls be kind with me heheeh but constructive criticism is always welcomed.

A/N: July 2017: I haven't updated this story in two years because something about it didn't feel right and I wasn't sure how to continue. My way of viewing Arnold and Helga's relationship and as indiviudal characters has changed quiet a bit, but for the better. So I took upon myself to rewrite a few parts of the first chapter and I have a new vision of how I want this story to go especially after the TJM sneak peak.

Arnold sighed in pure annoyance once again, this time making sure it was loud enough to let the blonde girl behind him know that she was definitely achieving her goal of bugging him. He didn't understand the blonde girl at all. He further confused him after how dramatic confession back at the FTI rooftop last spring. If he thought she was confusing before FTi, well now he definitely knows she is the most complicated girl he had encountoured. Still, her game level of how mean and annoying can she get has only slowly started escalating.

He thought the prank she pulled on April fools was bad, but that was only the beginning of the torment. She would succeed in bothering him but then he would lay in bed and look at the sky through his windows and can't help but to really question if she was actually serious about being in love with him.

Isn't this game, getting a bit old, doesn't she get bored or tired of doing this everyday?, we're in 5th grade now.

Arnold stopped paying attention to the lesson and was caught by surprise when the school bell rang indicating the end of another tedious long middle school day. The blonde boy's annoyed look on his face quickly changed to full of joy and sighed in pure relief and quickly picked up his books, thinking about the plans he had made of playing basketball with Gerald for the weekend, he chuckled to himself and as he began to walk out the door a booming voice yelled out his name.

"Arnold! Come back here!" he sighed in disappointment and turned back around to meet the angry face of Mrs. Joseph, she then opened her mouth to yell again "You too Helga!". Arnold's smile quickly turned into a frown of confusion.

The tall blonde girl made sure her growl of annoyance was audible for the other two to hear, she stomped back over next to where Arnold was standing and crossed her arms in front of her chest, letting out a deep breath to let them know how angry she was getting.

"I couldn't help but notice that you and Arnold here weren't paying attention in class today…" Helga groaned again, already knowing what the woman's next words were going to come out of her mouth.

"You two will now have to stay after school, do your homework and you can leave once you're finished"

The shorter one of the two blondes gulped, he wasn't used to getting in trouble especially in school. He felt guilty but at the same time a bit annoyed.

If it weren't for Helga we wouldn't be in this mess.

He looked at the tall girl next to him, he gave her an angry look when he noticed the apathy in her facial expression. He gave a shy smile to Mrs. Joseph and coughed.

"Sorry about that Mrs. Joseph I didn't mean to be so…" he looked back at Helga giving her a scowl. "Rude"

Helga returned the scowl Arnold had given her. Once he turned around to look at her, he shrugged and walked back over to his desk and pulled out his math book but still kept looking at the angry girl that was still standing in front of the classroom.

The girl with the pigtails stomped back over to her desk and kicked his desk on her way back to her seat.

"Whatever football head, Let's get this over with. I can't stand being any minute longer in this prison! Especially with a total dweeb such as yourself." She sat down angrily; Arnold rolled his eyes and finally turned around and opened his book to begin working on his homework.

Helga is always prepared for these sorts of situations, she'd laugh at the joke called the 5th grade. The material the 5th grade called that called homework was the icing on the cake, she'd usually have it done in less than ten minutes during lunch. Once the coast was clear and she was certain Arnold wouldn't turn around to look at her again, she pulled out one of the infamous little pink books, she opened it to a fresh new page and grabbed her pen, giving it a click and then giving out one of her love sick sighs when she looked at Arnold.

 _Oh Arnold, always making sure to apologize even when it isn't your fault, when will I ever stop the harassment and give you all my love, all my affection, why did I ever take back those words I let out on that cold night on the FTi building's roof._

She suddenly had an idea and smiled, she looked at Arnold again and back down to the blank page.

 _If I can't tell him in person then maybe all I need to do is write a letter, a note to him and just give it to him when I'm ready to reveal my deepest darkest secret again to him. Helga, you're a genius!_

She took a deep breath and put her pen down firmly on her paper and began to pour her feelings out towards her love.

Helga let out a breath of relief as she finished re-reading and proofreading the most emotional entry any of her little pink notebooks had seen, looking at it with a shy smile on her face. She carefully ripped the pages out of the book and folded them up, she slowly got up, her legs shaking as she looked at Arnold who still wasn't done with his homework. Her heart was beating hard and it became more and more difficult for her to breath. She looked at the note in her hand and took a deep breath.

 _It's okay Helga get yourself together ol' girl, you can do this!_

Suddenly her bravery was gone when she saw a particular red head walk inside the classroom, Arnold looked up and gave her a warm smile .

"Hey Lila, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be going home already?" Lila giggled and stepped a bit closer to Arnold.

"I didn't see you at the bus stop and I got worried and I asked Gerald where you were and well here I am…."

Helga growled and clenched her fists as she saw the scene unfold before her eyes, not realizing her letter fell out of her hands.

The blonde girl stomped over to the front desk of Mrs. Joseph and quickly handed her the completed assignments.

"Happy!? Can I go home now maybe?" she didn't mean to yell, and her face got red from anger, Lila and Arnold were frightened by the yelling and gave her a confused look. Mrs. Joseph sighed and nodded, giving her a wave out the door. Of course Helga couldn't help herself but embarrass the oblong-headed boy before she left, she stomped over to his desk, giving Lila a glare.

"Hey football head, how about you and Ms. Perfect get a room already! Sheesh"

And with that, the pigtailed girl with the pink ribbon ran out of the room, leaving Arnold blushing and Lila confused.

Arnold coughed trying to break the awkward silence and being thankful that Mrs. Joseph didn't hear what Helga had just yelled at him.

"What was that all about Arnold?" the red headed girl nervously laughed, not too pleased with the comment Helga just gave them

"Maybe something's bothering her?"

He scratched his head, and quickly wrote his last answer on his homework and closed his book. He then gave a quick glance to the door the angry girl just walked out of and thought to himself.

I would honestly give anything just to understand those actions though…

With that thought, He got up, picked up his books, and looked back at Lila.

"Hey Lila, do you want me to walk you home? I'm done with my homework now." He asked her while he showed his teacher his homework.

"No that's fine Arnold, thank you ever so much for the offer though!" she smiled at him and he shrugged. "See you Monday then, have a nice weekend Lila." He grabbed his notebook from Mrs. Joseph's desk and also gave her a 'have a good weekend' and with that he left.

Lila chuckled knowing what it was that angered Helga so much, she sighed in disappointment that the blonde girl still didn't trust her around Arnold even after Helga had shared her secret with her and giving her many opportunities since the 4th grade to be alone with Arnold. She felt hurt and shook her head knowing how difficult and complicated it was to understand that blonde girl. Lila looked down to the floor after she had that thought, She gave a gasp and noticed a note on the floor, the redhead picked it up and opened it, but then regretting it and feeling twice as awful after reading it.

Lila quickly put it inside her folder and giving herself a mental note to give it back to it's rightful owner once she saw her. Lila began to head towards the door before stopping and thinking

Maybe, she needs a push… maybe I should give it to Arnold instead… but that would be ever so wrong. What if she didn't intend for him to ever receive this letter?

Lila felt conflicted and decided to just keep it in her folder till she knew just what to do.

A/N : To be honest I intended for this to only be a one shot but as I kept typing I kept having new ideas so expect another part or two for this

A/N: This is the start of developing the gap year : D


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey guys, sorry for the very long wait. School is a… yeah you know what college is like haha. I've actually had the first half of the chapter written in my notebook but the struggle to sit down and type it all out ugh… but here I am! Also, I started a south park fic, if you like south park go check it out? When I started this fic specifically, I promised to myself that I will update this and I will finish it. So don't worry, this story wont be abandoned… I actually know where I'm going with this… but if there's any requests or ideas of where you want it to go feel free to leave those suggestions.

Helga made sure to slam the classroom door after she stomped out angrily into the hallway. She took a deep breath to calm herself down and slowly walked down the stairs and began to think.

'S _tupid Lila she always comes at the worst time'_

She let out a sad sigh and sat down on one of the steps on the stairs. She knew by now that Lila had no interest in Arnold, as a matter in fact the blonde girl and the red head have had numerous of awkward heart to hearts since her secret has been shared back in the 4th grade with the Romeo and Juliet mess. Lila always assured Helga that she hasn't had any feelings for the football headed kid since they broke up back in 4th grade and that Arnold just wasn't her type, period.

Nonetheless, Helga can't help it but feel jealous anyway, just because Lila didn't like Arnold anymore it doesn't mean Arnold doesn't have some sort of feely feel for Lila.

Helga was a confident girl, she didn't let stuff get to her but being a preteen girl in the 6th grade was hard. The year when the dreaded period of puberty began, and the unibrowed girl couldn't help but help it but feel like an ugly duckling next to the red head. Of course she'd never admit to that, over her dead body.

Her thoughts are quickly interrupted by a familiar voice and she jumps up in fear, like routine almost.

"Helga?"

"Arnold!" She almost fell out of the step she was sitting on and quickly Arnold grabbed her arm to help her keep from falling.

"Hey hey!" Helga quickly slapped his hand away from her arm and looked straight into his eyes to show him the anger that's growing inside of her to scare him away"

"Stop creeping up on me, you trying to freaking kill me!?"

Arnold sighed and rolled his eyes and ignored her smart aleck remarks as usual.

"Are you okay? Did something happen that made you angr-" he chuckled and looked up to her, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.

"Angrier than usual?"

Helga gulped and pushed him out of her way, she couldn't stand being around this boy any longer, not like this.

"That's none of your damn business, hairboy. Now do me a favor and don't show your face to me for the rest of the freaking weekend"

The blonde girl quickly ran down the stairs and ran out the door all the way out till she was sure she was at a very far away but safe distance from Arnold. She sighed again, sad that she can't control her temper when that boy surprises her.

"What the hell is wrong with me?!" she stomped the concrete as she made her way home in a slower pace than before.

"I can't ever react like a normal freaking human, how the hell do goody two shoes like Lila or Arnold do it?" she stopped walking and leaned against a tree and looked up to stare at the sun setting. "Oh Arnold… why can't I show you that I can be a civil human being…"

She stuffed her hand into her pocket to pull out the note she previously had written. Helga's train of thought crashed when she kept moving her hand around her empty pocket, realizing that moving her hand around that pocket isn't going to make that note suddenly appear.

"No no no…"

She immediately dropped her backpack into the ground and emptied it, ripping through notebooks and flipping through the pages of her books.

"What the- where's the hell is it?!"

Her breath grew heavy and her head began to hurt as she started putting together the previous scenarios before she left that prison called school. Then she remembered.

"If I had it in my hand… and then I just-"

She screamed, that scream she always screamed when her deepest darkest secret was going to be leaked out for everybody and their mama to know. She quickly threw everything back into her backpack and ran back to the school just to fail at opening the doors, the school was already closed and that's when the worst case scenarios started to pop in her mind.

 _What if someone found that note?_

 _What if the cats out of the bag already and I won't know till I run into one of these losers on Monday?_

 _What if someone that has a petty grudge against me blackmails me?_

 _Oh god…_

 _What if Arnold found it._

 _Yeah sure the note was intended to be given to him… eventually… but I would've loved giving it to him myself! Not him finding it by himself. Oh god._

Helga hit her head against the school's door and slid down to the floor, retrieving the locket out of her pocket. Looking at it with a gloomy face.

"Oh Arnold, God forbid you found that pathetic note and God forbid it freaked you out…"

A/N: Haha sorry if this is too short, I wanted to add what happened to the note after Lila found it on this chapter but I got a few other idea where I wanna go with it now… this was going to be a two shot but now I wanna make it a multi chapter so muahahaha! Don't worry! The next chapter will come faster since I already know where I wanna go with this.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hey! I did NOT forget about this story! I just wasn't sure how to continue and something about how I wrote it didn't feel right. I rewrote a few parts of the first chapter if you'd like to read it. I'm now a junior and college and still completely geeking out over Hey Arnold! so how about that TJM sneak peak? I cried! It was pretty amazing, and anyone notice Helga and Arnold's interactions? Well that's what got me to finally come back, I was inspired. Anyway, I apologize for taking so long to update.

By the time Arnold made it to the courts, the guys were already tired and heading out to go home. He was disappointed of course, but what can be done about it? He began his trek home, looking down at the ground just thinking about Helga.

Sometimes when Helga really gets to him enough to almost make him explode he really regrets letting her go easy when she confessed. It was hard to just forget a confession like the one she gave.

Helga was a good actor, but after beginning to get close to her after Thanksgiving last year he came to learn to differentiate when she was being herself and when she was using her mask to hide herself. The confession was as real as real can get.

Sure at first it freaked him out, the girl spent 6 years tormenting him whenever she'd get the chance. And when his adrenaline was on high while trying to save the neighborhood? it was definitely a memorable moment of that night.

But after the thought sitting on the back of the head during the intense bus ride and saving the neighborhood, something just clicked.

Something clicked alright, but there was more questions than answers running in his mind.

One thing was for sure, if Helga made it a point to keep it a secret and make his life complicated since they were tots she would definitely not want to face it right then and there.

He didn't even know how to feel about her.

He didn't hate her. He thought she was okay.

Have they've gotten closer as of lately by that point? Yes.

He even worried about her every now and then.

But did he like her like her?

For some reason he can't say 'No', but he isn't so sure and that's what has been worrying him for the last couple of months and everytime he has an enconter with Helga whether it be pleasant or not it would just send him back to asking more questions than getting answers.

He started noticing her presence more.

He began to notice how she gets nervous when they bump into each other just before she throws at him a ball of insults.

He began to notice her smile when she writes on one of small journals before she notices him staring and flashes her infamous scowl at him.

Sometime's when he'd catch her smile or laugh his chest would start feeling tight. He didn't understand that girl at all.

"I want to know her." He whispered to himself as he reached the boarding house.

He was taken back by his statement but he was sure of what he said.

It would be a challenge, but he likes a challenge.

A/N This was a bit short because I wanted to set the idea of how I want this story to go from now on. Chapter 4 will be up for sure this week.


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